Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Evaluating grazing strategies for cattle: Deer and cattle food partitioning
Author
Ortega, I. M.
Soltero-Gardea, S.
Bryant, F. C.
Drawe, D. L.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1997-11-01
Body

We studied resource partitioning between cattle and deer (Odocoileus virginianus Boddaert) within replicated treatments of continuous and short-duration grazing at heavy and moderate stocking rates. We recorded food habits using the bite-count technique with tame white-tailed deer, and the esophageal fistula technique with steers. Through use of canonical discriminant analysis, we found diets of cattle and deer to be distinct (p < 0.05) from each other in every treatment throughout the sampling period. Overall, deer used mostly forbs (72%) whereas cattle primarily used grasses (60%) and forbs (39%). We also evaluated sensitivity to pasture conditions created by cattle grazing by comparing diets across treatments, especially during the summer months (May through September) and the second winter, which was affected by drought. Out of a possible 48 treatment combinations compared, deer selected different diets 21 times whereas cattle selected different diets 16 times. Deer were more sensitive than cattle to grazing treatments. Cattle were most sensitive to treatments during the first summer and second winter. Deer were the least sensitive to the grazing treatments during spring, when their diets were similar across all treatments. We recommend moderate stocking rates to reduce dietary overlap between cattle and deer and continuous grazing or less intensive grazing systems to create an environment where deer can select greater amounts of forbs. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/4003458
Additional Information
Ortega, I. M., Soltero-Gardea, S., Bryant, F. C., & Drawe, D. L. (1997). Evaluating grazing strategies for cattle: Deer and cattle food partitioning. Journal of Range Management, 50(6), 622-630.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/644098
Journal Volume
50
Journal Number
6
Journal Pages
622-630
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
interspecific competition
browse plants
continuous grazing
Odocoileus virginianus
stocking rate
species differences
forbs
rotational grazing
cattle
Texas
seasonal variation
botanical composition
grasses
feeding preferences